1102-04024 Braille Instructor CBS 2. 4. 26

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Corrections, is seeking a part-time virtual Braille instructor through an Invitation for Bids (IFB) for Pennsylvania Correctional Industries at the CI Cambridge Springs facility to serve Dauphin County and Camp Hill Borough jurisdictions. The solicitation, posted January 26, 2026, with a due date of February 4, 2026, requires an instructor to provide online training to Pennsylvania female inmates on Braille transcriptions and related advanced applications. The contractor must deliver 10 hours of combined training and grading per week on a schedule approved by the DOC Contract Manager one week in advance, utilizing Zoom or Teams platforms during business hours (8:00 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding official state holidays). Key deliverables include instruction and grading of lessons 1-20 and drills from the National Library of Congress, student progress monitoring, preparation of inmates for final certification exercises, and oversight of 35-page Braille transcriptions submitted to the Library of Congress. Qualifications required include a minimum of five years' experience instructing Braille materials, current National Library of Congress Braille Literacy certification, proficiency in Unified English Braille standards, and readiness to conduct advanced trainings in Literary Braille Proofreading, mathematics Braille transcribing, foreign language Braille, music Braille transcribing, and tactile graphics. Bidders must submit certifications and resumes with their bids, complete centralized clearance checks, execute Worker Protection and Investment Certification forms per Executive Order 2021-06, and comply with Pennsylvania labor and workforce safety laws. Only electronic bid responses submitted through the Commonwealth's electronic procurement system will be accepted, and all bidders must be registered vendors on the PA Supplier Portal.

The contract is an Established Price Contract with compensation based solely on actual hours of training provided, with no overtime, weekend, or holiday compensation permitted. The contractor is responsible for all costs related to supplies, equipment, internet connectivity, and software licenses. Only registered vendors on the PA Supplier Portal may submit bids; there are no identified set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises in the available documentation. The Commonwealth reserves the right to award by line item or total bid basis to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The contract term commences upon issuance of a fully executed Purchase Order and may be mutually renewed for a maximum of four additional one-year terms with at least 90 days' written notice from the Commonwealth and 30 days' consent from the Contractor. The contractor must maintain Worker's Compensation and Public Liability and Property Damage Insurance with minimum coverage of $250,000 per person and $1,000,000 per occurrence, comply with a minimum wage requirement of $15.00 per hour (subject to annual cost-of-living adjustments), and adhere to all applicable state and federal laws. While specific hourly rates or budget ranges are not disclosed in the procurement documents, payment will be made by Automated Clearing House (ACH) within 30 days of receipt of proper monthly invoices with timesheets submitted as PDF files. Former Commonwealth employees are ineligible to serve as instructors within one year of separation, and work cannot be subcontracted without prior approval from the DOC Contract Manager.